Tuesday, April 05, 2005

"'Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World' was a coup for the museum world. The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art of Santa Ana, California, worked with Tibet's Bureau of Cultural Relics and the staff of Lhasa's three central cultural institutions to bring to the US more than 100 Chinese, Indian, Nepalese, Mongolian and Tibetan sacred and ritual objects. The exhibition spent the early part of 2004 at the Bowers, then moved to the Houston Museum of Natural Science........

"For the museum community, the exhibition tests the limits of the newest code of ethics set by UNESCO's International Council on Museums, which discourages members from acquiring objects from an 'occupied territory'. However, it has no specific guidance for materials on loan from such a territory."